Reports

President Obama’s upcoming trip to Ethiopia and Kenya offers an opportunity to reorient U.S. government policies to move beyond threats and focus on a much more robust strategy of disrupting and ultimately dismantling this system, which is funding, fueling, and profiting from the conflict in South Sudan.

The international community needs a fresh strategy for addressing the deadly nexus between conflict and corruption, and President Barack Obama’s upcoming travel to Kenya and Ethiopia offers a unique opportunity to set the tone for prioritizing new policy approaches to conflicts that had once seemed intractable.

The Enough Project joined a diverse community of 19 advocacy, faith and human rights organizations issuing an open letter to President Obama as he embarks upon his historic trip to Kenya and Ethiopia. The letter urges the President to take a number of specific steps to help combat the culture of impunity to forge an enabling environment for peace negotiations.

Testimony of Akshaya Kumar, Enough Project Sudan and South Sudan Policy Analyst, before the United States Congress Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission hearing on “The Current Human Rights Situation in South Sudan,” given on July 10, 2015.

“Warlord Business” is the second in a new series of in-depth, field research-driven reports on the dynamics of profit and power fueling war in the Horn, East and Central Africa. Violent kleptocracies dominate the political landscape of this region, leading to protracted conflicts marked by the commission of mass atrocities by state and non-state actors. Enough's Political Economy of African Wars series will focus on the key players in these conflicts, their motivations, how they benefit from the evolving war economies, and what policies might be most effective in changing the calculations of those orchestrating the violence–including both incentives and pressures for peace.

"Neighborhood Watch: Mobilizing Regional Action for Peace in South Sudan" is the first in the Enough Project's new series of in-depth, field research-driven reports on the dynamics of profit and power fueling war in the Horn, East and Central Africa. Violent kleptocracies dominate the political landscape of this region, leading to protracted conflicts marked by the commission of mass atrocities by state and non-state actors. Enough's Political Economy of African Wars series will focus on the key players in these conflicts, their motivations, how they benefit from the evolving war economies, and what policies might be most effective in changing the calculations of those orchestrating the violence–including both incentives and pressures for peace.

Recent shifts in the politics of the Persian Gulf could benefit the ruling coterie in economically isolated and politically ostracized Sudan. Sudan’s inclusion in the broader Arab coalition against the Houthis in Yemen, the recent agreement in April on a framework for a nuclear deal to be finalized between Iran, the United States, and others, and the rapprochement between Ethiopia and Egypt sealed by the Nile waters agreement, all dramatically alter Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir’s view of his opportunities. At first glance, these evolving relationships may make it harder for American policymakers, who are now part of the same fighting coalition as Sudan in Yemen, to exercise pressure on Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP). However, Western diplomats are not without options. Sudan’s growing economic dependence on Persian Gulf countries means that those countries now have even more leverage to press the NCP to agree to the political reforms and the negotiated compromises with the opposition that are needed to forge a lasting peace. American policymakers seeking to influence outcomes in Sudan should take advantage of their strong ties with the Gulf and the Gulf’s strong ties to Sudan.

While significant progress has been made towards creating a conflict-free minerals trade in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, gold continues to fund armed commanders. Thanks to on the ground initiatives in Congo, international activist and industry pressure, and federal legislation in the United States, 70 percent of the 3T mines (tin, tantalum, and tungsten) are now free of armed groups and Congo’s army, according to the International Peace Information Service. However, only 35 percent of gold mines in eastern Congo are conflict-free, with abusive Congolese army commanders and armed groups still profiting from the trade.

A trade in illegally mined and smuggled “conflict gold” is fueling both high-level military corruption and violent rebel groups in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to a new report by the Enough Project. “Congo’s Conflict Gold Rush: Bringing gold into the legal trade in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” by the Enough Project’s Fidel Bafilemba and Sasha Lezhnev, offers an in-depth portrait of the conflict gold supply chain, from muddy artisanal mines where gold is dug out with shovels and pick-axes, through illicit transport routes in Uganda, Burundi, and Dubai. Based on seven months of field research at mines and in regional capitals, the report provides an in-depth discussion of solutions to the conflict gold supply chain.

In an open letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, Ambassador Susan Rice, and Ambassador Samantha Power, Enough Project Founding Director John Prendergast supports the U.S. Government's ongoing efforts and proposes specific steps for enhancing engagement toward the current South Sudan peace process.